Famous Food

When you're as famous as George Clooney, throwing a mega-fundraiser for someone as famous as the leader of the free world, you want a caterer as famous as Wolfgang Puck.

TMZ has learned ... the Spago impresario has been hired to feed the 150 people who are each shelling out $40,000 to rub elbows with Obama at George Clooney's house this Thursday.

Our sources say Wolfgang and company have signed a confidentiality agreement and have been told in no uncertain terms to treat the event as top secret.

You may not have realized it when you were in the theaters this weekend, but "The Avengers" is not a movie ... it's a guerrilla marketing campaign for the shawarma industry!!! We'll explain ...

At the end of the "film," a scene within the credits shows the movie's stars eating lunch at an undisclosed location (not a secret lair or anything, they just didn't say). The meal of choice was shawarma ... a callback to something Robert Downey Jr.'s character had said earlier in the movie.

TMZ spoke with several different fine eating establishments all across Los Angeles ... and they all say sales of shawarma went through the roof this weekend.

At Ro Ro's Chicken -- a famed Lebanese joint in Hollywood -- the manager says shawarma sales jumped 80% in the days after the movie opened. We're told the same thing happened a few years back when a baba ghanouj joke was featured in "You Don't Mess with the Zohan."

"Biggest Loser" contestant Joe Messina's recent nuptials violated the one cardinal rule of weddings everywhere -- GET EVERYONE WASTED -- because booze was NOT allowed at the party.

TMZ broke the story ... the former Season 13 contestant tied the knot recently in Michigan -- and 12 other current and former contestants attended -- but the wedding party lacked a key ingredient .... alcohol.

Sources tell us ... the groom and his "Loser" guests are serious as a heart attack when it comes to their new healthy lifestyle -- so they axed all forms of alcohol from the menu (alcoholic drinks contain a lot of calories). Thankfully, we're told the crowd -- which was pretty religious -- didn't drink much anyway.

But Joe's reign of terror didn't end there -- we're told he also subbed a real wedding cake for low-fat pumpkin cake pops ... and served only food from the "Biggest Loser Cookbook" ... such as:

-- Grilled Chicken with Mango, Thai Quinoa Salad
-- Tossed Salad
-- Fresh Fruit Salad
-- Asian Chopped Salad
-- Salad Salad

And just when you thought it couldn't get any worse ... we're told the guests actually WORKED OUT before the ceremony.

He's one the most elite athletes in the world ... his body is a friggin' temple ... and that's why we're kinda shocked by what Robert Griffin III had for breakfast AND lunch yesterday ... hours before the draft.

We ran into RG3 on the streets of NYC, just a short time before he was drafted 2nd overall by the Washington Redskins ... and after he told us about his deliciously unhealthy breakfast ... dude carried a pizza box back to his hotel room.

And THAT is how you win over the Hogettes ... (also, winning doesn't hurt).

Pink Taco founder (and famed restaurateur) Harry Morton claims he's the victim of a massive money-laundering scheme that defrauded him out of $1.3 million ... and Wells Fargo Bank is to blame -- this according to a new lawsuit.

Morton filed the docs in L.A. County Superior Court, claiming he hired a consultant named Carlos Nieto to handle the day-to-day accounting for his new Pink Taco location in West Hollywood -- and the guy royally screwed up, siphoning over half a million dollars of Morton's money into sham bank accounts.

But Morton isn't just blaming Nieto -- he's suing Wells Fargo too, claiming they weren't paying enough attention to the guy to notice his nefarious activities.

According to the lawsuit, Nieto stole a grand total of $674,000 -- which forced Morton to shut down construction on his new restaurant for 5 months.

As a result of the delay, Morton claims he's had to pay 5 extra months of extremely expensive bills -- rent, bank loan interest, insurance, contractors' fees ... etc.

"MasterChef" Graham Elliot is FED UP with the lawsuit recently filed against him and insists everything he did in his Chicago restaurant was legally within his rights ... this according to new docs.

If you recall ... the culinary God is being sued by former Graham Elliot Restaurant employee Gregory Curtis, who alleges that Elliot was skimming tips from waiters and giving it to the kitchen staff ... which Curtis claims would be a violation of federal law.

But in a response filed earlier this month, Elliot claims the suit is BS. While he does admit he DID take tip money and pool it for other staff members -- bartenders, bussers, and food runners -- he is adamant ... under federal labor laws, it was totally legit.

Elliot now wants the judge to throw out the suit completely and force Curtis to cover his legal fees as well.

The Oreo cookies advertisement featuring a breastfeeding baby was NEVER intended for public consumption ... this according to the people at Kraft Foods.

The ad went viral earlier this week ... with several media outlets reporting it was a legitimate South Korean ad created by the Cheil Worldwide ad agency.

Now, a rep for Kraft -- the company behind the cookie -- tells TMZ, "Kraft Foods did not create this ad. It has never run in Korea or any other markets."

Cherie Johnson -- the girl who played Laura Winslow's best bud Maxine on "Family Matters" -- just opened her own restaurant in Houston ... but she's not some absentee boss ... she actually buses the tables herself.

The restaurant's called Datt's It -- and we're told Cherie opened it last month in a developmentally-challenged section of Houston, hoping to bring the struggling neighborhood some business ... and bring it back to life.

The menu includes all kinds of American classics -- burgers, fries, hot dogs, wings -- and the ONLY thing on the menu over $5 is the waffle with eggs and bacon (that's $6.50).

If Derek Jeter goes 4-for-4 in Baltimore tonight ... it might have something to do with the awesome home cooking he ordered up from a local restaurant -- owned by Bronx native Chazz Palminteri.

New York Yankees sources tell us Jetes and fellow Bronx Bomber, Andruw Jones, were jonesin' for classic NY style pizza this afternoon ... and found it at Chazz: A Bronx Original.

We're told Jeter and Jones walked into the Baltimore hot spot ... and placed a Ruthian sized order: coal-fired burrata pizza, chicken parm, veal meatballs and shrimp over polenta!

Before the Yanks took their order to go they posed with a staffer ... and Palminteri -- writer and star of "A Bronx Tale" -- called to wish 'em good luck in tonight's game against the Orioles.

Jeter got 4 hits last night against the O's. So ... 5-for-5, anyone?

Mary J. Blige says she never signed off on the controversial fried chicken ad that she shot for Burger King -- at least not the version that was blasted on the Internet.

Mary J. tells TMZ, “I agreed to be a part of a fun and creative campaign that was supposed to feature a dream sequence. Unfortunately, that's not what was happening in that clip."

Mary also says, "I understand my fans being upset by what they saw. But, if you’re a Mary fan, you have to know I would never allow an unfinished spot like the one you saw go out."

The spot -- which Burger King has since yanked from its YouTube site -- features Mary singing about a new crispy chicken wrap. The ad drew tons of criticism on Twitter for playing off a stereotype about African-Americans and chicken.

Burger King confirms the ad was released prematurely "before all of the licensing and final approvals were obtained." The fast food giant also says, "We would like to apologize to Mary J. and all of her fans for airing an ad that was not final."

Chef Graham Elliot -- a world-class culinary god who starred as a judge on "MasterChef" -- is being sued by an extremely bitter ex-waiter at his famous Chicago restaurant ... who claims Graham conspired to cheat certain staff members out of their tips.

According to a lawsuit filed in Illinois, Gregory Curtis claims he was a waiter for Graham Elliot at a place called Graham Elliot (yes, he named the restaurant after himself).

Curtis claims the restaurant forced him to partake in a tip pool -- where all tips are pooled and then distributed out to various staffers ... including bartenders, bussers, food runners and cooks.

But Curtis is pissed -- claiming the food runners and cooks had NO RIGHT to his tip money ... because they "do not customarily and regularly receive tips."

According to the suit, Curtis claims his hourly pay should have been higher as a result of the B.S. tip pool ... so he's suing for the lost wages for himself and anyone else who was affected.

Kristin Cavallari is now eating for 2 ... or maybe 3 or 4 -- because she spent FIVE grueling hours at a Cheesecake Factory last night! Then again, she could just be working.

A cancer-stricken woman on TLC's "My Strange Addiction" swears by the healing properties of her own urine -- drinking it, rubbing it on her skin, even BATHING in it -- and the footage is stomach-turning.

53-year-old Carrie has been drinking her own urine for 4 years -- downing about 80 ounces of the yellow stuff a day -- and despite a total absence of medical proof, she believes it's helped control her cancer. Carrie says in the show finale (which airs Sunday at 10 PM) ... she hasn't seen a doctor in 6 years.

Carrie doesn't just drink her pee -- she brushes her teeth with it, uses it as lotion, pours it in her hair, bathes in it ... even rinses out her eyeballs with it.

Although Carrie insists her obsession is life-saving -- she says she's noticed a strange mole on her back that changes daily from dark to light.

Former Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker is raising his kids vegan -- inexplicably depriving them of delicious chemicals, pesticides and hormones! Oh, the horror.

With his future on the Patriots in question, Chad Ochocinco is trying to do good by anyone he can -- in this case NYC -- dropping nearly $8,000 on a massive fried chicken dinner last night ... for 200 local fans.

In case you don't follow him on Twitter -- the football stud sent an open invite to anyone in the New York area ... offering a free dinner to the first 200 people to show up at the famous Sylvia's soul food restaurant in Harlem.

Needless to say, hordes of people came -- just check our video for proof -- and sources tell us, Ocho treated the hungry mob to a full array of Southern-style deliciousness ... including BBQ ribs, fried chicken, mac & cheese, and red velvet cupcakes.

Sources at the restaurant tell TMZ, Ocho spent $7,914 on grub altogether -- but they wouldn't specify how much he tipped.

Paula Deen claims the ex-general manager of her restaurant who is suing for sexual harassment tried to extort her by demanding more than a million bucks ... or face "ruin."

TMZ has obtained Paula's response to the lawsuit filed against her and her brother Bubba by Lisa Jackson, the former General Manager of Uncle Bubba's Seafood and Oyster House in Savannah, Georgia.

In the response, Paula included a letter from Lisa's lawyer, who wrote bluntly, Lisa would not file the lawsuit and keep everything secret if Paula forked over $1.25 million.

Lisa's lawyer adds, "If we are unable to settle, the complaint will not be quietly filed. I am making arrangements for a press conference on the day of filing."

Paula is asking for a gag order, prohibiting everyone in the case from blabbing to the media. In her motion for a gag order, Paula's lawyer says Lisa's strategy has been clear -- "Pay or I will ruin you."

Lisa claims Bubba engaged in a campaign of terror, subjecting her to porn, kissing and spitting on her, making racist and sexist jokes, and on and on.

Paula denies all of Lisa's allegations. As TMZ first reported, Lisa sent Paula a letter 3 months before she quit, praising Bubba and telling Paula how much he helped her become an independent woman.